Convict captured

Long arm of the law reaches elusive fugitive

From left, Estella Gutierrez, cousin of Michael Gongora, Inez Gongora, Gongora’s grandmother, and Arthur Martinez, Gongora’s uncle, talk about their relative, who escaped from jail and evaded police on multiple occasions for about three weeks. “We're just tired of it already,” Martinez said. “We're waiting for him to give himself up.” Gongora was arrested Friday afternoon in Sweetwater.

SWEETWATER - After 22 days of evading law enforcement officials in several Texas counties, fleet-footed fugitive Michael Lopez Gongora, 32, was caught by the Sweetwater police Friday.

Gongora was arrested about 6:10 p.m. Friday after a brief foot chase with officers in southwest Sweetwater and taken to the Nolan County Jail. He faces charges related to his escape, evading arrest and burglary.

Relatives feared he wouldn't be taken alive. His uncle said Gongora had told them he was unjustly charged and didn't want to go to jail for crimes he hadn't committed. A reward was offered for his arrest and capture. Police received reports that he might be armed, and they considered him dangerous.

And for a while, it seemed no matter how close police in Sweetwater and elsewhere got to Gongora, he managed to scramble away - until Friday night.

Gongora was a Jones County inmate facing burglary charges when he escaped. Law enforcement officials believe he is responsible for a number of break-ins.

On April 5, Gongora was part of a work crew cleaning the basement of the Jones County Courthouse in Anson when he asked to go to the bathroom.

He never returned. An area manhunt ensued, including roadblocks on major roads in and out of Anson. Officials also kept an eye out for Gongora in Sweetwater, where he has family.

Authorities said a change of clothes was stashed in the courthouse bathroom. They speculated an accomplice was waiting for Gongora outside the courthouse.

Gongora's uncle had a different story.

Arthur Martinez, who lives with Gongora's grandmother in Sweetwater, said Gongora called them for several days after he escaped. Gongora told them he planned to escape in his jail uniform until a woman at the courthouse showed him two boxes of clothes, one for women and one for men. He said he took the box of men's clothes and hid it in the bathroom.

''He said God was showing him the way,'' Martinez said.

Martinez said Gongora stopped calling after he refused to give him money or drive him out of town. Martinez said he instead urged his nephew to turn himself in. Police still came by his family's public housing complex daily, checking for Gongora and pressuring relatives to turn him in.

Gongora managed to evade authorities several times, even after bloodhounds were used to track his scent.

On April 14, Gongora was spotted in a Sweetwater home, but he slipped out a window before police could catch him. As a result, the homeowner, Cody Clark, and Gongora's common-law wife, Jennifer Martinez, were both arrested.

A few days later, police in Van Alstyne, 45 miles north of Dallas, stopped a vehicle carrying Gongora almost immediately after he and another man allegedly burglarized a cafe nearby. Before the officer had a chance to arrest Gongora, he fled on foot. Instead of chasing Gongora, the officer, who was alone, arrested the other man, Thomas Castillo Jr.

Police in Van Alstyne spent 10 hours searching for Gongora.

This week, he was spotted in Sweetwater again. He was seen near his grandmother's home in the Jack Lambert public housing complex. Again, Gongora was gone before the police could nab him.

''He's like a deer,'' his uncle said. ''That boy can run.''

While some criminally minded people saw Gongora as a folk hero, others described him as a troubled person.

Family and friends said Gongora had a difficult youth. He was raised in Sweetwater by his grandmother, who wept Friday during a conversation about him hours before his capture.

He was known as the neighborhood thief while he was growing up because he would snatch bicycles and other items. He also had relatives who served time in prison.

In middle school, Gongora was arrested for stealing. He never finished school, Martinez said.

Gongora used drugs, relatives said, and stole to support his drug habit. He was also the father of three boys.

Martinez said Gongora was a good thief - he could scale buildings and quickly exit.

''I know how he can escape us. He's just quick. I don't know how he can escape the dogs,'' said Robert Clark, a school resource officer and a police officer.

Friday afternoon, police headed to areas around Lamar Street. Gongora sightings came during afternoons, so authorities were hopeful they could nab him. Even Police Chief Jim Kelley was heading out to look. He didn't have time to answer questions about the cost of the manhunt and when it might end.

The end, it turned out, would be sooner - and more peaceful - than anyone had thought.